For thousands of years people have been in continuous search, trying to find an effective treatment for certain diseases and methods to help them stay healthy. While modern Western medicine has turned into an ordered system of doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical factory, and many other tools, ranging from bloodletting and ending coordinated with laughter, still widely used around the world.

A pregnant woman in Peru is participating in a session of the dolphin. High-frequency sounds that dolphins emit is believed to stimulate the brain of the fetus being in the womb, thus increasing the level of neural development.

Hirudotherapy, or the use of leeches in medicine for bloodletting, started two and a half thousand years ago. Today, leeches have become popular again thanks to research that focused on analgesic properties of chemical substances that enter the body leech bites. Clinical trials have shown that leeches are effective for the treatment of arthritis and other manifestations of disease. This does not mean, however, that you can just buy a pack of leeches in your local pharmacy. One source of medicinal leeches is the International Center of the medicinal leech in Russia (IMLC), which supplies these creatures in special clinics around the world. The photo shows the officer IMLC your product.

Medical mud. Rich in minerals specific medical dirt from the “Lagoon of Miracles” in Chilca, Peru, is rumored to cure any illness, ranging from acne and ending with rheumatic fever.

In 2007, the news agency, Beijing News reported Jiang Musheng, (pictured), eating live frogs, mice and rats for forty years in order to stay healthy. Jiang, who suffered from chronic abdominal pain from his youth learned about this option of treatment in his village in Jiangxi Province. He claimed that after one month of swallowing live frogs his pain went away and never returned, and over time he added to his diet live mice and rats.

Imagine that you are stung by a bee … deliberately, for medical purposes. This idea Apitherapy (bee stinging), in other words, the method of introducing bee sting strategy, which was developed as a popular healing tool in China. Since then it has become a popular method of alternative medicine to cure many diseases, including gout, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. In the photograph: apitherapist sends bees to sting the patient’s head in Indonesia.

Muslim treatment. The patient in the photograph is in the traditional treatment «hijama», aimed to cure his headaches. «Hijama», which is a combination of cans and bloodletting therapy, which was described by prophet Mohammed and is used in many Islamic countries for the treatment of chronic pain, rheumatism, eczema and other serious illnesses.

Loud laughter. Laughter therapy, also known as “yoga of laughter”, reduces stress and increases energy. Especially, this method of treatment is popular in India, where it was developed from a physician Madan Kataria of Mumbai doctor in 1995.

In India, popular products are made from cow urine and dung. It is believed that they can help you get rid of diseases such as cancer, nervous system disorders, and others. The photo – a man holds aftershave made on the basis of cow urine. It is assumed, by the way, that the same remedy should be applied to disinfect and treat cuts and wounds.

Over 100 years ago a family from India Batini Gaudi designed his own “health” system, which includes the ingestion of raw fish, length of two or three inches (5-7 cm), stuffed with yellow herbal paste. The fish is called “murrel”. The secret herbal paste is passed from generation to generation and is known only to family members. According to doctors, the patient is cured from asthma for ever, if swallowing a live fish for three consecutive years, and strictly adheres to a diet prescribed by traditional healers. In the picture – the patient swallows a live fish in Gayderabade.

Patient hospital in Jinan, capital of Shandong province in China, receives the traditional Chinese treatment of facial paralysis. This therapy uses a walnut, located above the eye, and burning, or burning of dry leaves mugwort). Cautery is extremely important in traditional Chinese medicine, as it is believed to stimulate blood flow and circulation of blood and other body fluids.

In 2010, the Indian Parliament passed a law that officially recognized traditional medicine “Owl-Rigpa”, which is widely practiced in the sub-Himalayan regions. “Owl-Rigpa”, which is also used in Tibet, Mongolia, and parts of Japan, is a holistic system that uses a series of treatments to cure the disease, including «gtar» or bloodletting (pictured).

The clinic, located in the Sahara Desert in Egypt, offers a traditional treatment of rheumatic fever: burying the lower part of the body in the hot sand. In this photo taken in 1985, patients use umbrellas to protect their face from the sun during medical treatment .

A man relaxes in the treatment of rheumatism in the oasis of Siwa in Egypt.

Electroconvulsive therapy was developed as a psychiatric treatment for depression, schizophrenia and other nervous and mental disorders. Treatment includes several short electric shocks that cause short seizures. Currently, electroconvulsive therapy is used, subject to mandatory anesthesia, which helps prevent serious side effects such as memory loss and fractures. In the photo: Samuel Resnick, third from left, controls the conduct of electroconvulsive therapy in Patton State Hospital in California in 1942.